


I Can't Sacrifice Everything For You (Even If I Want To)

by EmerialynCodeVenice



Series: DaveKat Wedding-Centrics [2]
Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: Adult Trolls (Homestuck), Alternate Universe - Derse/Prospit Royalty, Alternian Revolution, Arranged Marriage, Fluff and Angst, Long Live Empress Feferi!, M/M, Magic, Miscommunication, Misunderstandings, Sacrifice For Greater Good, Seer Bullshit, The Condesce is Dead!, War, peace treaties
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-14 22:53:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14778827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmerialynCodeVenice/pseuds/EmerialynCodeVenice
Summary: For the sake of peace, Prince David, third in line for the throne of Derse, must marry The Carcino, the leader of the Zodiac under the new Alternian Empress, The Resplendent Benevolence.Dave knows this. Knows that, without this marriage, their kingdoms will return to war and everyone he loves would die.So even if his heart hurts when he thinks about a certain knight... he has to do this.





	I Can't Sacrifice Everything For You (Even If I Want To)

**Author's Note:**

> Apparently I have an infinity for angsty-fluff wedding ideas when I'm stressed? I... don't know what that says about me.
> 
> It should also be noted this is not connected to any of my other fics (particularly These Golden Walls That Divide Us--I would have put it in that one if it was). This is completely standalone (at least for now).

_18 hours, 56 minutes, 14 seconds…_

Watching the sunset over the kingdom of Derse from on top a wall where no one could easily get to him, only one thought existed in Dave’s mind:

_Fuck war._

 Now, that may seem to be a general sentiment had by most, but Dave _really_ fucking hated war right now.

Not because it killed a lot of good people ( _though the bodies they’re_ ** _still_** _finding of good people that, while the prince hadn’t know personally, he felt responsible since, you know, they were_ ** _his_** _people and he should have done more to_ ** _save_** **_them_** _\--)._

Not because it was a hellish experience that no one should experience ( _even if Dave_ **_still_ ** _had nightmares of multi-colored blood spilling on the field, the sound of metal clashing upon metal, magic being used in a way magic never should, and the cackle of a pink-eyed_ **_demon--_ ** ).

Not even because it cost a literal arm and a leg as well as a whole lot of gold ( _to those of who think it’s shallow to think of money in war, fuck you, money was what fed the soldiers on the field and paid for medicine from greedy as countries that couldn’t give a_ **_fuck_ ** _\--)._

No, the reason he hated war right now was because of _peace treaties_.

 _..._ and, okay, that sounded _really bad_ , but Dave had a point. He swears on the name he was given, Prince David of the Kingdom of Derse, third in line to rule, and the Knight of Time, that he had a point. The point was that while the _peace_ part of peace treaties was good-- _awesomely rad, even--_ the ‘treaty’ part of it could… could be rough.

But, let him back up. Back right up to the gruesome and bloody war that had just barely ended. A war that had been led by none other than the Empress of Alternia, the Imperious Condescension-- _may she rot in pieces--_ and her army of bloodthirsty trolls who were more than happy to help support their empress’ goal of subjugating the world.

Or, well, not _all_ the trolls of Alternia--in fact that, _they_ , were the reason behind the peace treaty that Dave was currently agonizing over. The Condesce had wanted to takeover the surrounding kingdoms (including Dave’s home of Derse, their allied kingdom, Prospit, and many others) and was more than willing to carve a bloody, fire-filled path to do so. But while the fish-bitch had been more than happy to destroy the homes and lives of so many innocents, there were those in her kingdom that weren’t.

In particular, the Heiress, of all trolls, had been against it. Had started her own little campaign against her-- _mother? Aunt? Dave wasn’t sure how troll-biology worked, but he knew it wasn’t like the typical family units of humans--_ ancestor. Still, even with the loyalty of many, the little Heiress would have lost badly... which is where Derse came in.

High Prince Dirk, ruler of Derse and the Prince of Heart-- _or as Dave called him, “Bro”--_ had also known that they couldn’t win against the Condesce and her forces alone. Even with Prospit’s help (though that was more in supplies which, while invaluable, only did so much to boost the military strength of Derse) they were severely outmatched. But if they had allies in Alternia to chip away the Condesce’s power from the inside… well, it seemed like an obvious alliance, right?

No, of course it wasn’t. After all, how could you possibly trust the Descendant of the one laying waste to your home? How could you trust _anyone_ from that race? Even with Rose-- _excuse him, Dave meant ‘Princess Rosaline, fourth in line to rule (though they always knew that, if it came to it, Rose would rule before Dave--he just… didn’t have what it took) and Seer of Light--_ saying that they would perish if they didn’t make the deal, it was hard to figure out an angle that would work _and_ convince the people to be on board with it.

And so… they found one. An angle, that is. One that Dave hated, but made a whole lot of sense.

After all, if you can’t trust someone because of their relations, then what do you do? _Relate them to people you_ **_do_ ** _trust_ . And how do you do that when even your _blood color_ isn’t the same…?

Dave knew he was being obtuse, so he would outright say it.

 _Marriage_.

Yup, that’s right. _Marriage_. So good, you had to say it twice.

_(Not.)_

If he was being honest, it wasn’t a bad idea and he _almost_ didn’t want to throttle whoever came up with it in the first place, but, even with an answer like marriage to seal a deal between their two parties for cooperation-- _should they survive; which, they did, and Dave really_ **_isn’t_ ** _upset about that but…--_ there was still a lot that had to be considered.

But, of course, the two groups had been in the middle of fighting a war and, with that shaky deal in place, had enough grounds to trust the other not to backstab them immediately.  

Then, the war had ended-- _apparently it was the Heiress herself that had taken out the Condesce which, props--_ and… specifics had to be made.

Despite suspicions of betrayal-- _hey, the Condesce didn’t exactly give a good name to troll-kind anywhere--_ the Heiress, now Empress Feferi the Resplendent Benevolence, had been determined to keep their deal and promote goodwill between the ‘New Alternia’ and the rest of the world.

_Of course, Derse was a key figure to that, not just being a military leader of surrounding countries but also a political one, so the former Heiress was probably well aware that fucking over Derse would be a grave mistake._

And, of course, the first step to promoting that goodwill was to figure out that marriage deal. There had been difficulties on both sides. Not because either side wanted to go back to war-- _and, really, with the animosity and bad blood between the two races, it was a_ **_very_ ** _real possibility if their rulers didn’t figure this shit out--_ but because the question of _who was getting married_ was a difficult one.

Despite the fact that it may seem ‘obvious’ to just marry the rulers to one another, it was also a stupid idea. The Heiress was newly crowned and needed to cement her rule over her kingdom lest it fall apart into a civil war while it would be simultaneously idiotic to take Dirk from his position given his importance as the leader of the kingdom that almost single-handedly defended the world from the Condesce.

_Not to mention it would have been super weird to see his brother marry the Heiress… like, really weird._

So, the next ‘obvious’ answer was to look at members of the royal family eligible for marriage, right? _Nope_. While Dirk has his three darling siblings to call upon in terms of family, the young Empress… did not. Dave had mentioned before that trolls had weird-ass family structure, and that meant that they didn’t really have siblings or blood relations beyond ‘Ancestors’ and ‘Descendants.’ And given that the former Heiress had just killed her Ancestor… yeah, fishbitch definitely wasn’t eligible for marriage while pushing up daisies.

 _And that idea there, of Dirk possibly marrying the Condesce, now_ **_that_ ** _was truly horrifying in a way that Dave hoped everyone could appreciate._

So, what do do? This whole ‘making solid relations’ deal was starting to seem stretched pretty thin. It may have just been a human thing, but the thought of a potential ruler marrying someone not directly related to the Empress seemed rather… unbalanced. Not that Dave gave a shit, but the people and council really _did_.

It was the Empress who came up with the solution. As stated before, the former Heiress hadn’t started the revolution alone, wouldn’t have been able to do it without the help of her closest friends. Her closest friends who, along with her, had been called ‘The Zodiac’ during the war and had been made up of twelve formidable-- _and, if Dave were to be honest, kind of terrifying--_ warriors. They had also been members of each blood caste-- _had that been a coincidence or planned?--_ and, as a result, were essential leaders to unite the new kingdom of Alternia.

As a result, the Empress had proposed a marriage between one of Dirk’s siblings and one of the members of the Zodiac. It seemed like a good deal-- _even if the council was unhappy, but they were always unhappy so they could shove it up their ass--_ and the Strilonde siblings readily agreed for the sake of figuring this out as soon as possible. Tension was too high to dawdle over split ends.

It was then, apparently at the same time, that Rose and their Seer-- _some chick named Terezi that Dave was pretty sure he had seen on the field; she seemed pretty cool if weirdly obsessed with red things--_ had gotten a vision. A vision that said that sealed Dave’s-- _and some other unfortunate sap’s--_ fate.

That’s right. They had a vision that, unless Dave was the one to marry a member of the Zodiac-- _a very particular member--_ their kingdoms would fall to ruin. How they would fall to ruin, the Seers were unsure, but both had been rather adamant of the fact.

And, just like that, there was no more choices.

Dave was to be married.

At first, Dave hadn’t known what to feel. Ironically-- _or, perhaps not--_ it was _Dirk_ who had gotten upset. Had asked if there was any other way, _any_ other possibility that didn’t involve Dave being forced into this. Dave would have been insulted if he hadn’t known where Dirk was coming from.

High Prince Dirk had been made ‘High Prince’ at a rather young age, following the beheading of their father-- _whose name Dave hoped he would never have to hear again._ Generally, being the children of a ruthless tyrant would have meant that they would have been next in line for the chopping block.

And they would have been too… if Dirk, himself, hadn’t been the one to behead their father before the entire kingdom. If Dirk hadn’t pledged himself to the betterment of the land, its’ people, and not losing the war against Alternia. If Dirk hadn’t offered _himself_ up as a sacrifice if it meant the people would trust them and spare his siblings.

Dave didn’t like to remember those times much, but it… had worked out. The King of Prospit and his family had vouched for the young ruler and Dirk was crowned the ‘High Prince’ (not King, he had wanted to distance himself from the title) with only a dozen-- _if failed--_ assassination attempts in the first week.

The point was, during that time and even before-- _especially before, Dave could remember how Dirk would protect them their father’s madness and rage at the cost of his own blood and pain--_ was that Dirk _cared_ . Cared for Roxy, Dave, and Rose more than anything. Cared _too much_ , in fact. If it could help his siblings in any way, he would happily cut his own head off like he had their father.

 _Okay, not funny._ **_Never_ ** _funny._

So when the marriage offer-- _more like_ **_ultimatum_ ** _\--_ came through where Dave had no choice-- _no choice in being the one to volunteer for this, no choice in the one he was okay with marrying, no choice in_ **_anything_ ** _\--_ Dirk was distraught. Even with Rose telling him there was no other way, Dave had never seen Dirk hate himself, what he was required to do as ruler first and sibling second, as much as he did at that moment.

Which, was stupid. It wasn’t Dirk’s fault that the universe decided to fuck over Dave-- _wasn’t his fault this time or any other time--_ but Dave knew that Dirk was already feeling horrible, so… so he decided not to be selfish. Decided that, while he wasn’t jumping for joy at his newly decided nuptials, he wasn’t going to risk destroying everything he loved just because he was uncomfortable with marrying some random troll. So, he had lied. Told Dirk he was fine with it before absconding the _fuck_ out of the negotiations room and away from Roxy’s pitying stare and Rose’s strangely neutral expression.

It took a while before he found out who his ‘bride-to-be’ was.

Or, more accurately, _groom-to-be._

Yup, Dave Strider was marrying a dude. Not like he was judging the guy on gender-- _after all, he had seen the way that Dirk looked at the Prospitian prince, Rose was hella gay, and Roxy was bi as they came--_ but it had been… unexpected. That the union that the fate of the world relied on was with a _guy_ . _And a troll--can’t forget that._

Though, when it came to troll dudes, Dave could admit that he could have probably done worse than the one called _The Carcino_ (though, Dave was pretty sure that meant ‘The Crab’ or something which was kind of weird). While the former Heiress was the ruler, apparently _this guy_ had been their leader. The one who had brought them together and _kept_ them together through all the shit they had to go through with the Condesce.

Apparently, he was so badass that his blood color hadn’t been on their spectrum-- _though it was apparently the same as humans which, uh, was less badass--_ and was deemed cullable on sight, but he _still_ managed to survive. If there was anyone who could be called the general as well as the reason why the Heiress was able to take out the Condesce with Alternia not immediately falling apart, _this guy_ was apparently the one those around him gave credit to. The letters from the Empress about the Carcino had been nothing but glowing, even before the whole marriage thing.

As a result... probably not the _worse_ exchange on their side. Derse got the freaking true leader of the rebellion while Alternia only got the last resort ruler who, while badass on the battlefield-- _when he wasn’t having stupid as fuck panic attacks because he was a stupid idiot who somehow couldn’t get used to fighting despite the fact he was born in_ **_war_ ** _\--_ was rather useless in everything else but making sick rhymes for the bards to sing. _The council hated his music--but Dirk, Roxy, and even Rose, didn’t, so_ **_overruled_ ** _._

So, Dave had sucked it up. Pretended to be fine with the upcoming marriage shackles-- _well, it was called a ball and chain for a reason--_ and go along with all the details. Pretended to be fine when Dirk announced that the Empress, the Zodiac, and a personal guard of soldiers would be coming to Derse. Pretended to be fine when the Empress finally arrived and knew his _groom_ had to be among them somewhere.

It had been a suitably grand and decorated affair, as Rose would say. The palace had been blitzed all to shit and Dave had been forced to wear his finest robes. Or, rather, he had been told to wear what he liked to call his ‘godtier pajamas’ (in Derse, once you gained some semblance of mastery over your classpect, you got these really comfy clothes that were resistant to pretty much everything). While it was true that wearing a combination of their royal wares and godtier uniforms showed that they had class, Dave also knew that it was a warning from Dirk to the troll representatives. A rather blatant _‘don’t fuck with us, you’ll regret it’_ type of sentiment. Cheery, right?

Well, Dave was never one to disappoint. So, when the delegation came, he made sure to wear every part of his godtier outfit possible. Even brought up the hood so that no bit of his hair stuck out and his favorite shades that, coincidentally, hid a great deal of his face. For whatever reason, Rose gave him a look, but Dave was too distracted by staring at the patterns on the carpet beneath his feet cause the carpenters worked hard on the throne room following Dirk’s ascension to the throne and people didn’t properly appreciate the stylish floor threads enough. Really. He wasn’t hiding in his clothes and refusing to look near the Empress in the likely scenario that he might see his future betrothal--not at all.

And when the formal greetings ended-- _he swears that his heart didn’t skip a beat when he heard ‘The Carcino’ announced--_ and the feast began, it really was that he was just tired when he left the feast as early as possible without sparing a single glance in the way of the Empress and her group. Really, _really_ tired.

_And then… everything changed._

Maybe because he had gone to bed so early, but Dave had been unable to sleep that night. Not that he was kept awake thinking stupid thoughts regarding his fate, of course not, but, regardless of his thoughts, he had decided there was no reason to indulge insomnia for a few more hours and snuck out. Or, er, not sneak out-- _he was a prince in peacetime, he didn’t have to sneak around like some sort of frightened animal anymore--_ but if his guards didn’t know he had left… then perhaps Dave should have been training them better.

He left his godtier pajamas behind. After how much he had worn them on the battlefield, he admittedly wasn’t the fondest of them-- _even if they were comfortable as shit--_ and he also enjoyed the anonymity that came with wearing normal clothing. Without his crown and with shades to hide his royally-distinct eyes, he was more than adept at just blending in as a normal citizen.

It was then… that he met _him_.

Okay, that sounded rather dramatic, but it kind of had been?

Dave had just been fucking around, skulking around outside the kitchens to get a midnight snack, when, suddenly, there had been a sickle to his neck. However, Dave had been born into war and, even defenseless, had reacted quickly by smashing his attacker’s foot and elbowing him in the face before rolling away.

His attacker had _definitely_ not been expecting that but, like Dave, was obviously skilled in combat and leapt after him even though his face had to be smarting from the hit. A short tussle later, and Dave, once again, had a sickle to his neck. Only this time he was pinned to the ground and staring up at a pair of eyes so red they could be blood.

He would never admit it, but those eyes-- _so filled with_ **_fire_ ** _and a_ **_will to survive_ ** _\--_ distracted him from the rest of his attacker’s body at first. After a moment, though, nothing could change the fact that the person above him had _gray skin_.

 _A troll_.

Immediately on guard-- _if he wasn’t already from, you know, being attacked--_ Dave had been about to demand what the other was doing when said other had asked the exact question on Dave’s mind.

_“Who the fuck are you?”_

Bewildered-- _before remembering that, yeah, he was as non-royalty as he could be right now--_ he had shot back the same question. Unsurprisingly, the troll had been less than willing to answer which, in turn, spiraled into a never-ending cycle that, while amusing, got Dave nowhere.

So, he had given the guy a fake name: Turntech. Before you laugh, Turntech was a nickname that his siblings called him on rare occasion. It apparently originated from an incident with in Dirk’s workshop from when Dave had been too young to remember. He wasn’t sure he believed them when they said that he had somehow eaten part of a _magical clock_ and had been literally ticking for a while-- _much to Dirk’s terror--_ before Roxy had been able to get it out of him, but he acknowledged the fact that, when he was called it these days, it meant that Roxy/Rose was mocking him or that Dirk was feeling a mix of terror and exasperation. It also kind of went with his whole role as the Knight of Time, but whatever.

...probably not the best fake name, but oh well.

His attacker had squinted at him-- _and, wow, Dave never thought he would have it for guys, or trolls, or troll guys, but there was something freakishly cute about those eyebrows--_ before demanding what he had been doing hanging outside of the kitchens so suspiciously. Being honest for once, Dave admitted he was going for a late night snack before asking the troll the same thing.

Obviously reluctant to believe him, but apparently deciding he wasn’t a threat after staring at him for an entire minute-- _76 seconds exactly; it was Dave’s thing to be precise--_ he admitted that the Empress had also been doing something similar and that he had thought Dave-- _sorry,_ **_Turntech_ ** _\--_ had been a wannabe assassin.

Very insulted with being called a wannabe anything, Dave had asked why Mr. Grumpy thought he had any right to take out _would-be_ -assassins-- _not that Dave would ever assassinate anyone, but he definitely would succeed if he really wanted to--_ that were actually just innocent citizens getting food?

Raising an eyebrow-- _and,_ **_damn_ ** _, Dave apparently had a thing for eyebrows--_ his offender had told him that he was a Knight for her Empress. Which, cool, Dave knew that the Empress was bringing a personal guard on top of the Zodiac, so not really that surprising. But, for whatever reason, Dave had wanted to know more than that-- _which, uh, may have been hypocritical since he was using a fake name--_ and asked for the other’s name.

The other had squinted at him some more-- _and, wow, it would only be later that Dave would realize that the troll had been lying on him with a sickle to his throat this entire time--_ before speaking one word.

 _Karkat_.

And that… that had been alright by Dave.

Following the would-be-assassination--

 _“And, really, Karkat, I_ **_would_ ** _succeed if I put my mind to it.”_

_“Shut the fuck up, Turntech. If you hadn’t already made clear what a harmless, blithering idiot you are, I’d gut you in for saying shit like that.”_

_\--_ Dave started seeing a _lot_ of Karkat over the next few weeks. It was rather random, honestly, and mostly during the night when Dave couldn’t sleep and _this guy_ apparently didn’t sleep at all.

Despite the fact that Karkat seemed really devoted to his job-- _of course, who could blame him? His Empress was in even more danger than Dirk was following the beginning of his rule, and that was saying something--_ he didn’t seem to mind when he ran into Dave and, after a few days, started to get dragged away by him. Dave hadn’t really meant to the first time, just really wanting to show Karkat this awesome spot to see the moonlight and had apologized profusely--

_“Shit, really, Karkat. I know I joked about assassinating your Empress but, uh, I swear I didn’t mean it. This isn’t some sort of ploy to get you alone to kill you. Or, uh, to kill your Empress by leaving her without her grumpy knight. No killing at all here--”_

_“For fuck’s sake, Turntech. If you really want to convince me, keep talking about killing.”_

\--but, surprisingly, Karkat hadn’t minded. Had said that the Empress had plenty of people watching her and he trusted that the conflict that would arise if someone _did_ try something that stupid would be easily heard throughout the kingdom. Dave was relieved, and honestly a bit impressed. Karkat was obviously no slacker from that first fight they had, so if he was only a knight while the Zodiac was leagues above him… then, damn, the Empress really was covered.

As a result, a strange, if awesome, relationship was struck between the two of them. It came to the point where Dave was falling asleep during breakfast-- _which he had tried to avoid because, yes, Roxy, those chickens_ **_weren’t_ ** _on my head before--_ and sneaking out earlier and earlier for a potential chance to see Karkat and spend time with him.

Do you know who Dave _didn’t_ see a lot of following the arrival of the Alternian delegation?

His fiance.

Not that there hadn’t been chances to. Formal parties, dinners, walks in the garden… _scheduled events that he was threatened not to miss, but still did_.

Okay, it was true. Dave was avoiding any mention or sight of his groom-to-be like the _plague_ . Again, he had nothing against the guy. Had really grown to admire him from the stories that he had been hearing on the side-- _particularly from the Libra Calibrator, who preferred to be called ‘Terezi’ and, despite Dave’s insistence to avoid members of the Zodiac, was always able to track him down with a cackle and comment on how red he smelled--_ and even from among his own people.

Apparently, this guy had saved a _lot_ of Dersites on the battlefield from a nasty slaughter. While the people of Derse were still nervous at the thought of an alliance with Alternia, the knowledge that this ‘unsung folk hero that had protected them even while on opposite sides’ was calming them down.

( _Maybe he really was the best choice and Dave should just_ **_deal_ ** _with it--)_

Still, Dave just… didn’t want to deal with it. He avoided it when his siblings brought it up-- _he really couldn’t handle Dirk’s guilt, Roxy’s dual attempts to joke and be sincere about it, and Rose’s almost condescending smirk--_ and just pretended everything was normal.

Then… the date had been made.

The wedding date was suddenly a mere week away.

And, suddenly, for all that Dave had been preparing himself for this, preparing to sacrifice himself-- _no, this wasn’t a sacrifice, this was the_ **_bare minimum_ ** _required to be a decent human being; sacrifice was Dirk beheading their father and then offering himself to the crowd for the life of his siblings--_ to this union… he wasn’t ready.

_He wasn’t ready to get married._

Returning to the present, Dave closed his eyes and checked his eternal clock.

_18 hours, 28 minutes, 32 seconds…_

“Hey, asshole! I’ve been looking for you!” Dave didn’t answer the voice coming from below him. “Don’t think I won’t fucking come up there!”

Dave didn’t bother opening his eyes, already knowing what-- _who--_ he would see climbing up to sit beside him. If he kept them closed long enough, maybe he could pretend this wasn’t happening. Pretend that Time had stopped, ceasing it’s endless ticking forward.

_18 hours, 27 minutes, 54 seconds…_

_But_ _it didn’t stop._

“Oi, Turntech, did you hear me?”

He bit his lip, but opened his eyes to look at the confused troll beside him. To stare at confused red-eyes, the light hitting gray skin just right to really bring out a hardened yet soft expression…

_And this… this was was why Dave hated peace treaties._

“Karkat… we have to talk.”

_Because he was in love with someone else._

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally intended to be a one-shot but, as always, it got away with me. Particularly, Dave was very expository? So I divided it in half.


End file.
